Low Carb Girl Scout Samoas

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Similar to Girl Scout Samoas, these delicious, gluten free, sugar free cookies are the cat’s pajamas. That is, if their pajamas were covered with flaked, toasted coconut, caramel and a delicious chocolate glaze. And then that’s weird, because cats don’t even wear pajamas.

I was seriously jazzed to see Baking Bites had a recipe for the Samoas. With her clever adaptation, I was able to adapt further for a sugar free, gluten free result (above, picture left) that is very like the flavor profile of the real thing (pictured right in the image). The result? A mass of flavor for about 3 carbs per cookie. That’s pretty spendy for a cookie, but compare my rough nutritional values to the real thing. An actual Samoa is 9 net carbs; mine is about 3.

While the cookie process is a little bit of work due to the various components, the good news is you can simplify the caramel step by buying Smucker’s Sugar-Free caramel syrup. It’s easier because the homemade caramel tends to separate in cooking, and if you’re judicious in your use of the sugar free stuff, the maltitol shouldn’t wreak havoc on your digestive system. I used the jar option for this recipe since it’s easy. I am including the caramel sauce process I used to make my pumpkin caramel cheesecake if you want to try and make your own maltitol-free sauce.

Things to consider: Poking a hole in the center of the cookie with a straw isn’t big enough to produce a hole-in-the-center result. It’s like driving a Kia and thinking that in sunlight it’ll grow into an Escalade. It just won’t happen. If you want an actual decent-sized center hole, go with a larger straw or something with a slightly wider diameter.

Coconut flour makes these slightly more delicate when warm, so be gentle with the just-baked cookies. Let them rest a couple of minutes on the pan prior to moving to the cooling rack, and then allow the cookies to fully cool prior to handling.

While I ran the numbers for this recipe and came to about 3 net carbs per cookie, I calculated use of the caramel, store bought topping. What you might add in terms of amounts, will change the counts. To cut carbs: Try using less dessicated, unsweetened coconut on top. Just an ounce of dessicated coconut is 7 net carb.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In large mixing bowl, cream butter with sweetener.
3. On low, add in salt, baking powder and flour.
4. Add in coconut milk as needed to make dough adhere to itself.
5. Place dough, 1/2 batch at a time, between two sheets of wax paper.
6. Roll to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into 1-1/2 inch circles.
7. Optional: Poke holes in the center of each cookie with a large straw).
8. With a spatula, carefully move cookies to a parchment lined cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 8 minutes or until bottom is a golden color.
Allow to cool on racks completely.

For the caramel:
1. Place all ingredients except vanilla in small saucepan.
2. Bring to boil over medium heat.
3. Boil 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Let cool 5 minutes; stir in vanilla extract.
6. You can add more thickener as needed. If mixture separates, keep stirring to reincorporate all ingredients.

For the chocolate coating:
1. Combine cocoa, butter, and Truvia in a microwave safe dish.
2. Heat for 45 seconds on high and then stir to incorporate ingredients.
3. Heat for another 45 seconds, stirring every 20 seconds.

To assemble:
1. Start by gently coating top and sides of each cookie with a minimal amount of caramel.
2. Coat with coconut.
3. Allow to rest for 30 minutes to allow toppings to adhere and dry slightly.
4. Make the chocolate coating per instructions.
5. Carefully coat bottom of cookie with chocolate.
6. Place on wax paper to dry.
7. Refrigerate remaining.

The xanthan will likely be a tsp or so. It’s really touch and go with the gums. Guar tends to behave slightly better, but I’d start with a tsp and see how it thickens. You can add moe from there if needed. Sorry I can’t be more specific! The gums are a little touchy.

Yes. and in fact, I’ve used the Walden Farms caramel sauce before for a recipe. Make sure to use just a small amount on each cookie. You want enough to dry fairly quickly and just enough to adhere the coconut to the cookie.

OOOOOOO!!!!!
You are a true mind reader! I have been dreading going to work, because everyone and their mother are selling GS cookies and Samoas are my favorite!
Thank you thank you thank you!!!! ; )
Lotus

I made these over the weekend! YUM! I am horrible at rolling out any dough so I just rolled little balls and smashed them between two sheets of wax paper with the bottom of an unopened tomato paste can- it automatically forms a perfect thin circle the depth of the can lip. I think that is why I ended up with about 20 more cookies than Jamie. I baked them the same amount of time and they came out perfect!! Thank you, Jamie!

Hole-pokey idea: Bubble-tea straw. I think it’d be just the right size. Only drawback is then you wind up with a massive supply of bubble-tea straws and well, bubble tea isn’t that low-carb. But I guess if you plan on making Samoas on a fairly regular basis, you’d be set with Samoa hole-punchers for quite a while.

well, I was really excited about these but they didn’t turn out right. As another commenter said I had to add WAY more than 2t of coconut milk to get the dough to hold together enough to form cookies. I think I used about 1/2 or 2/3 of the can. And they still taste pretty dry and are pretty crumbly.

Neither the chocolate part nor the caramel part seem right either, but that could be because I’m not a very good baker.

Hmm… Yeah, that shouldn’t have happened, but I don’t at all think it’s your baking skills. It could be the humidity level, the elevation, any number of things. The recipes I share do work for me at 5200 feet in an arid climate, but that said, I am really sorry yours didn’t turn out. They really should have made your heart jump out of your chest and give your face a huge hug. I thought they were pretty terrific… but again, maybe it’s the thinner air? lol

I am a lurker on this site for about a year and a half now. There are many recipes I love here. I just wanted to comment that I was really excited about these and spent some time working on them, and they came out… Not just bad but horrible. They were literally indelible. I am not sure what I did wrong but both the caramel and the chocolate parts tasted terrible. The toasted coconut was delicious and the cookie part was ok, just needed more to go with it. I had tried making my own caramel using the recipe and maybe it was the xanthan gum amount, I would definitely recommend using a store brand caramel. But I tried adding a bundle more sugar (real sugar even) to the chocolate and I could not salvage it. I used Splenda instead of Truvia could that be the issue? I am returning to comment here over a year after making the attempt so now that I see a few people had luck with this I may try again. Sorry for the novel of a comment. This recipe is a challenge!

I haven’t tried this recipe, but it may be the Ideal Brown Sugar. I made a apple caramel pie with it, and it was horrible, but I couldn’t figure out why. I just assumed it was something I did, but then I made a caramel topping that used Ideal Brown Sugar, and it was horrible too. So I figured out it must be the Ideal Brown Sugar. It’s hard to describe the taste other than a high chemical flavor and bitter. I won’t be buy Ideal products again.

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[…] If you spend a little time on this site, you’ll find hundreds of amazing healthy recipes. I really enjoy the author’s sense of humor throughout her posts and the creative spin with classic dishes like these lasagna noodles or her gluten-free/sugar-free girl scout samoa cookies. […]

[…] If you spend a little time on this site, you’ll find hundreds of amazing healthy recipes. I really enjoy the author’s sense of humor throughout her posts and the creative spin with classic dishes like these lasagna noodles or her gluten-free/sugar-free girl scout samoa cookies. […]